Sadiq Khan: There are too many "white men" on Transport for London

I used to work in recruitment and particularly for finance jobs, senior management or directors, I don't think I ever saw a woman apply. Some fields women or others may just not want to work in. For example, I'm fed up being told 'more women need to be in scientific fields' ok sure, if there are women who want to but feel they can't, that's a problem. If women just don't want to, why are we being told we 'need' to work in something else? I got good grades in science and maths at school but I don't like it, I'm not going to work in it just to add to women in science. I think it has the opposite effect to constantly be telling people what fields they should or shouldn't be working in just because there aren't 'enough' minorities in certain fields. I also don't know why you think jobs not being advertised means ONLY women and ethnic people wouldn't know about it, where do you think these jobs are being posted? White Men Only forums? Have you ever actually worked in recruitment? There could be lots of poorer white men being disadvantaged but nobody cares about them

That person didn't say white men are good at everything, but if you have candidate X who is white, male and suitably qualified, and candidate Y who is an Asian woman who has significantly less experience or education relevant to the position, it is incredibly poor business sense to hire candidate Y just because she is female and Asian. Quotas allow you to hire people who are female or ethnic simply BECAUSE they are female and ethnic and not at all because they are the best candidate. That is stupid and makes no business sense at all.



I think it's clearly you who is the racist with a statement like that.

Don't underestimate the psychological, implicit barriers of being a minority.

Poor white women who have lived in socially disadvantaged areas their whole lives never seem to feature in conversations either. Not that any I've heard, it seems a lot of them are labelled off as a lost cause.

I can't actually find any other article reporting on this?

There are absolutely none. They're discriminatory to those they disadvantage, and patronising to those they advantage.

We should be striving for meritocracy by ensuring a level playing field and equal opportunities. Quotas are an ill-thought out cop-out, which help no-one and fuel resentment.

I agree with you, talk of 'women' always tends to mean ethnic women also. However I think there is this view of 'not caring about the white man' that is very damaging to those who live in poor areas with no education and little chance of ever getting out of this situation. People are so adamant that white men shouldn't be in top jobs for example, I think people automatically assume white men have grown up with a silver spoon in the mouth simply for being white male and that is fundamentally untrue

I agree with you, talk of 'women' always tends to mean ethnic women also. However I think there is this view of 'not caring about the white man' that is very damaging to those who live in poor areas with no education and little chance of ever getting out of this situation. People are so adamant that white men shouldn't be in top jobs for example, I think people automatically assume white men have grown up with a silver spoon in the mouth simply for being white male and that is fundamentally untrue

Yes I agree, but then there is obviously a huge disparity which I blame on the social mobility of this country, but that doesn't change the fact that there does still need to be more diversity. How they get this diversity shouldn't be quotas in my honest opinion, it should start from the very beginning with giving people equal opportunity. Education should be looked into. Schools need to be improved, better schools will provide better opportunities for people, which will help them change their situations.

At the end of the day whether you a white man, black woman, a brown man or a green fish, you will succeed anyway if you start off in a privileged position.

Yes I agree, but then there is obviously a huge disparity which I blame on the social mobility of this country, but that doesn't change the fact that there does still need to be more diversity. How they get this diversity shouldn't be quotas in my honest opinion, it should start from the very beginning with giving people equal opportunity. Education should be looked into. Schools need to be improved, better schools will provide better opportunities for people, which will help them change their situations.

At the end of the day whether you a white man, black woman, a brown man or a green fish, you will succeed anyway if you start off in a privileged position.

Everyone matters and that is the point. The quota filling does not have to do with race, but also socio-economic backgrounds. The poor white man living in poor areas with no education will be given an opportunity. However, if you say that it should be a meritocratic system, then that poor lad does not even stand a chance.

I wonder if his voters are feeling stupid yet, or if they're saving that for when we really get to see what he has to say.

No, correct, and that is very unfortunate and we need to be working on that moving forward. Should he then get the job just because he's from a disadvantaged background, if he is against applicants who are suitably qualified and trained? No.

Why are you assuming ethnic minority and women candidates won't do a good job, they will be looking at qualifying criteria before they select the candidates. Good business decisions depend on making the right decisions on candidates, you don't do it out of ideology, competition would be fairer without white men dominating every single thing. What makes you think being white and male means you're going to be good at everything?

He/she says - without irony - the day after someone of Pakistani heritage became mayor of London.

I have just looked at what I assume is the Board as appointed by Boris, in the TfL website.

One of them is from that well-known group of tolerant people, London taxi drivers.
Another from private hire drivers.
No-one to represent what I would consider are ordinary commuters, no-one to represent schools and universities (after all, most students don't have a car).
No-one to represent cyclists.
One is a director of British Airways
At least two don't live anywhere near London to my knowledge.

Sadiq Khan makes a valid point about the Board being white men largely, but it is not only that aspect of the Board that is unrepresentative.

This forum can be so racist at times... So **** tbh. All these people moaning are white.